Numbers 34 – 36
Numbers, like much of the Torah after Exodus jumps between the written law, stories and technical details. Verse 34:6 expands on those details of the border:
“For the western border, you shall have the Great Sea and its coast. This shall be your western border.
This chapters details of the borders of Israel and then provides a list of tribal chiefs. These parts can seem dry and uninteresting but have a wealth of knowledge. Interestingly the borders described in this chapter are very close to the present day ones. You can find images on the web that show the various scriptural descriptions of the borders and how they exist today. I wonder how much scriptural support there is for the current borders.
Verse 35:11 talks about the cities of refuge:
then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there.
It’s interesting how the laws develop for manslaughter verse murder. Where murder is a capital offense, manslaughter is still a punishable offense. We have laws on the books today that are very similar. I find it interesting how most of our legal system has its roots in the Bible, yet people want to remove God from everything. Why not rewrite the laws while they are at it, since they are very much the same.
Verse 35:27 is something that Jesus changed:
and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood.
Imagine you are driving too fast and someone pulls out in front of you and they die. This is a case of manslaughter or “negligent homicide.” Although technically different they have are similar in punishment. The example I gave was “negligent homicide” where manslaughter would be more of an accident from say a fit of rage that resulted in death. It all stems on ones state of mind.
Interestingly prior to this verse the Bible gives specific definitions of when this unplanned rage becomes murder. If a death would have been manslaughter but the person hit someone with a specific object, like an iron tool, than the count would be raised to murder. That gets into the specifics of the law. Unlike the legal system today it was detailed, but relatively simple to understand.
Now the point I was trying to make about what has changed since Jesus is “forgiveness” and grace. Think about the “avenger” who is one that lost a person. The Law states you may lay in wait and murder this person if they leave the city of refuge. In this instance it would be considered “justifiable homicide” and no charges would be brought against you. Today it would be conserved murder since it was planned. But Jesus taught us to forgive and this lacks that teaching. Why would someone be allowed to harbor a grudge for potentially decades and be allowed to kill?
The remainder of the book goes into marriage laws. The details here did not interest me. How about anyone else?